Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Cemetery Caches In the U.S. - We Ain't Afraid of No Ghost

I have found cemetery and haunted possibilities all of the world while checking out graveyardcaches. Some a pretty scary sounding. Others are pretty mellow. The later may be actually be scarier than the first. I think I will be stickin' the the good ole' US for now - check these out.

ExploreWV’s third geocaching series is Haunted WV, which takes geocachers to 20 of the Mountain State’s spookiest locations – that’s asylums, prisons, cemeteries, and much more. Some of these cache sites have even been featured on TV shows such as SyFy’s Ghost Hunters, TLC’s Ghost Adventures, and MTV’s Fear.

Known by many names, this Campbell family cemetery is home to the first missionaries in the Bethany area as well as many past faculty members from nearby Bethany College. It is said that the stone wall surrounding the cemetery keeps the spirits inside, as if trapping them with no way to escape. Common paranormal occurrences have been noted in this area including a disturbing presence and occasionally strange mist shows up in photos.

Please use etiquette and be courteous when geocaching and place the container exactly where you found it. Do not wander far from the cache site and be aware that some of these locations may not be suitable for the faint of the heart.

There is no doubt in my mind that this place could be home to many spirits, just waiting to help with the hunt for a cache.

In the beautiful mountains of Colorado, there are many caches that are part of the Colorado Spirit Quest. Tho I believe that this series deserves it very own post, or many post, I want to throw one of them in this assortment.

GC1HB5E - Colorado Spirit Quest #138 was established by outdrlvr201, October 2008, just a bit west of Central City. There is almost no part of Colorado that is not absolutely breath taking and this is not exception. Check out the info on this cache.

Geocache description:

“COLORADO SPIRIT QUEST”

The Colorado Spirit Quest is a series of Caches placed by many individuals, near cemeteries and historic sites in hopes of paying respect to the many pioneer ancestors that have ‘walked’ before us.

There are hundreds of cemeteries in the rural and mountain communities across Colorado. This series will introduce you to many of them.

The cache pages will provide a virtual history tour of the cemeteries and tombstones.

COLORADO SPIRIT QUEST is not affiliated with any other ‘Spirit Quest’ group. Special thanks and credit are given to SixDogTeam who started the Indiana Spirit Quest in 2004. The idea has rapidly spread into many states.

The CSQ endeavor is an enormous and relentless task. It cannot be accomplished by just one or two people. This project will only flourish if there is a multitude of volunteer cachers willing to place these caches.

After locating the cache container, take some time to reflect back on the lives of those pioneers and the effort it took to make Colorado such a great state.

BALD MOUNTAIN CEMETARY/CEMETERY--(misspelled on its sign)

The original cemetery in Nevadaville was located in the center of town. It was moved to its present location in the name of progress and practicality. It was opened in 1877 by the board of Nevadaville, although the oldest stone dates to 1865 and there are 17 others that predate the opening.

There have been many reports over the years of ghosts and paranormal occurrences. One tombstone has the glass-covered picture of its underlying resident, Estel Slater, who died in 1895 at the age of 23; the picture was installed by his parents. At times, his ghost has been reported to wander the premises. Another legend concerns the buried remains of a woman determined to be recognized as a true witch by her peers. At a certain spot in the cemetery one is supposed to notice the weak stench of rotting flesh. If you are in the right area, a green mist is rumored to appear and a woman will stand upright and disperse maggots over the ground.

To reach the cemetery, go through the town of Central City on Eureka, which turns into Upper Apex Road. Follow the road past the Rocky Mountain 2 IOOF-1865 cemetery, past the water treatment plant (the road becomes Bald Mountain Road). At a point where the Bald Mountain Road sign indicates you should turn left, continue straight ahead on Bald Mountain Lane (street not labeled). The cemetery is on the right side about 0.1 mile down the road.

Between the stories and the appearance of this graveyard, I think this is one of the creepiest possibilities yet.

Time to hit Utah. 7ofclubs placed this one in a perfect place. GC18FX3 Clearfield Job Corps, not to be confused with corpse, has ghost-a-plenty. First hand accounts from the cache owner and many more that are verified by area residents. Check out what 7ofclubs has to say about this cache.

Geocache description:

Number 6 of 10 in the Haunted Utah series. It's really surprising what has happened around this place in the last 100 years.

Clearfield Job Corps Center is a former Navy Base and has reports of different haunting's all over the campus. Dorm L: It is haunted by an old military nurse. Not sure if it's the same one that is in the TB dorm but this one walks down the hall. E dorm (the dorm I am in) is haunted by three spirits. One of them is a little girl, between 5-6 years old, who stands by the doorway of the entrance to the dorm. Others have experienced this girl walking down the hall bouncing a ball. The other ghost is possibly a former RA (residential adviser). You can see him walking down the hall making sure all the students are in their dorm. The third one is an unknown spirit, possibly an old student who died in that dorm about nine months ago." Dorm M: believed to be haunted by a spirit that sticks around the fire exit. They say he hung himself. Movie Theater: used to be the old military morgue. It is said to be haunted. Many things happen. The projector sometimes won't work. The TB dorm: haunted by a military nurse.

Stealth definitely required. When I discussed the cache with security personnel at the CJC they were concerned that the students would muggle the cache. When I explained it was part of the hobby they were OK with it. BE STEALTHY!

If you happen to be around Salt Lake City, just head north on the I-15, head for the Syracuse area and that is where you will find this very haunted cache. While you are there, check out the many others in that vicinity. There's a great variety including a number of those rare letterbox caches.

Where to next ? Well - let's stick to Utah. After all, we are here anyway, right? Just south west of Salt Lake City is the First Tooele Cemetery Spooky Utah Cache - GCQQMP, and as the name suggests, it's in the Tooele area. The story of this graveyard is really strange with moved bodies, missing or unaccounted for bodies, and of course - the spirits that have suffered from all this turmoil.
Strange enough, and it sort of follows with the history of the cemetery, this cache has been adopted twice, with the current owner being PeanutsParents. Let's hope this works out for them. Here's the interesting story of this cache.

Geocache description:Part of the Spooky Utah Series.

Some one Hundred and Fifty years ago, the Mormons came to Utah. With this migration of people and animals, the LDS church decided that their religious base needed to spread through the region to create settlements that could grow both in faith and population.
In the Tooele (pronounced Two-ill'-uh for non-Utahns) valley, the first Tooele cemetery is said to be haunted. Of course, like all cemeteries, it has its share of urban legends, and fairly famous local people, but this cemetery is special in how it was created, and later moved.Records indicate that the first Tooele cemetery was used between 1850 and 1867. These were years of hardship for many new residents to the area, and nearly 100 bodies were buried somewhere close to where this cache is located. However, unlike most cemeteries, there were not “family” plots available to the residents of the new settlement. Instead, individuals were buried in the order that they died according to the next available plot. This means that neighbors were buried next to neighbors, but rarely did a family or family members find their bodies near each other unless a tragedy struck. In addition, permanent grave markers were not allowed. As a result, to this date, no one knows exactly whose remains were in which coffin and where in the cemetery they were placed.In 1867, a new cemetery (currently still used) in Tooele was established. Once the “new” cemetery was created, many of the bodies were exhumed by hand and moved into their final resting place. From what records are available, some 55 bodies were moved at that time, though it still remains questionable as to which of the 100 buried in the first cemetery were moved to the new one. If you can do math, you understand that this leaves 45 bodies unaccounted for and left behind in the old cemetery.Adding insult to injury, in 1997, the original boundaries of the first cemetery were determined. At issue, however, is that there is now a major thoroughfare on one side, and houses built over some of the former gravesites. Yes, the developer and owner of the subdivision did manage to recover what he could of the remaining 45 bodies, and set up the small park at the cache location, but due to the moving of the graves, and the order of the burials separating many families from their loved ones it is said by many locals that the ghosts of those first buried in this area still remain looking either for their body or their lost loved ones.

This is one of a series of spooky Utah geocaches that stem from urban legends about haunted places. The information contained here in may or may not be true (or only partially true), and is designed for thrills and chills. As with all the geocaches in this series, please stick to normal waking hours to do these (say between 6 am and 10 pm unless otherwise noted), and please do not disturb those living/dead nearby. I’m sure you know this already, but please be discreet. Lastly, have fun - I hope you don’t get spooked easily!

There is a small off-street parking lot on the south side of the cemetary.

No cemetery story would be complete without a cache with the word HAUNTED in it. So here is the Haunted Hill cache - GCX8EA, in Minnesota. I would say that this is not winter cache, like most in the area, so get out and find this one now or at least by the bewitching night of October 31. This cache by puber is sure to creep you out. Here's the brief but adequate description.

Geocache description:

This is a mini micro cache but should still be easy to find. Bring a pencil to log your screen name only.

Some say this hill is haunted by spirits that will push your car up hill. Others say it's an optical illusion. I'll let you be the judge after you try it.

From the cache location drive your vehicle north, toward the T intersection, and note the location of the dip in the road. Drive your vehicle to where you think you're at the dip or the bottom of the little hill. Put your car in nuetral (turn off engine for best results) and your car should slowly roll south up the hill. Usually the spirits will stop pushing you at what looks like the top of the hill a little ways north of the cache location. I recommend doing this at night as it increases the scare factor.

Area should be clear of muggles but beware as many youngsters visit the area and if they know somethings there they will take it.

Ok - that is sort of creepy. And the suggestion of doing it at night - well - I agree.

Just one more and we are going to Sin City for this one. Tho the description does not mention the current residents, you can talk to many of the locals, especially the mature residents, and learn of many stories of the siting in the area. It is even said that the surrounding fence is as much to keep
creatures in as it is to keep them out. Check out GC2GDBX, Ghosts of Hwy 91, just out of Las Vegas.dpo was right on when he placed this cache here and with it's name.

Geocache description:Taking you back the the very beginning of the Las Vegas Strip.....

They put up a plywood wall, but maybe you can find a knothole or have someone give you a boost to look over it and see the remains of the first resort/casino on what would become the famous Strip.

This cache takes you to the front lawn of the first resort in Las Vegas. You can still see the embankment of the driveway- the rest will require your imagination.

The El Rancho Vegas was the first place to stay on what was Old Highway 91 as you headed for Los Angeles, "way out 2 miles south of town", long before anyone ever called it 'The Strip' This is where people would stay their 6 weeks- long enough to claim residency and get a easy divorce back in the 1940's.

Opened in 1941, the El Rancho was a western themed resort, well known for its windmill landmark, fine dining and opera house that featured the top names in entertainment of the day.

It all came to a sudden end in June 1960, when a fire destroyed the main building, and the land has sat empty and unused ever since, but you can still see three old trees that stand guard where the front lawn used to be.

Cache is log only, Bring your own pen, Be aware of muggles and replace just as found.
There will likely be lots of passerbys, but few will notice you as you rest awhile and peer into the past.........

Off to do more research on the haunted cache areas. From what I have found, I may just have to do an entire post on those in Nevada. Seems to me that some spirits just don't want to leave this area. Check back and see.